Landing on Kirchbach with the 5th Amphigean Light Assault Group the Hermits took up guard positions and waited for the Lyran attack. Though reinforced by the 17th Rasalhague Regulars, the DCMS forces were overmatched by the Lyran task force and had to withdraw. With Helmut Aufkophen killed during the fighting, his son Hermann Aufkophen's first act as commander was to surrender to the Lyran troops.[4][1]

Finding return to the Combine less than welcoming following CoordinatorTakashi Kurita's infamous "Death to Mercenaries" order, the Hermits elected to remain interned in the Commonwealth for the remainder of the conflict, the battered regiment accepted a Lyran garrison contract for Fatima after it concluded. Now renamed Hermann's Hermits, the unit sat out the War of 3039 and the first year of the Clan Invasion on Fatima. Ordered by the AFFC to Quarell when the seemingly unstoppable Clan offensive resumed in 3051, the frightened Hermits prevaricated and dragged out their redeployment until Quarell fell to Clan Jade Falcon, escaping the infuriated AFFC when their contract expired shortly after.[1]

Their reputation blackened by the affair, the Hermits languished for almost a year on Outreach before the Free Worlds League offered the unit a contract on Thurrock guarding against Periphery raiders near the Magistracy of Canopus. [5] The Hermits fulfilled their contract adequately if not spectacularly until SAFE operatives produced evidence alleging the unit (via its logistics officer Otto Unrhu) was accepting bribes from smugglers. Calling in independent Word of Blake investigators, after three months the Blakists published their findings exonerating the mercenaries and allowing the unit to serve out its contract despite FWLM misgivings. Recognizing they would not likely receive further employment in Marik space and recalling their aid against SAFE, Colonel Hermann Aufkophen was very receptive to Word of Blake recruiters who approached him in 3059, Hermann's Hermits becoming the first MRBC-registered mercenary unit to accept employment with the Word after Operation Odysseus. [1]

Though Hermann died en route to Terra after contracting Thurrock Flu, his son Hannibal assumed command, with the newly-renamed Hannibal's Hermits becoming the pre-Jihad poster child for Blakist recruiters to prove their fair treatment to other mercenary commands. Part of this was the Word of Blake's sale of older Star League era and House Marik BattleMechs at highly preferential rates as the Blakists factories on Terra introduced newer designs for the Word of Blake Militia. Immediately prior to the Word of Blake Jihad, the Hermits were transferred to newly captured Keid in 3067 to relieve the Blakist 3rd Division[1]

During the Blakist invasion of Dieron, Hannibal's Hermits supported the 8th Division during the initial conquest of the planet in early 3068. As the fighting tapered off in early 3069, the Hermits would prove invaluable during the occupation of Dieron with their combat engineers responsible for much of the planning and construction of a series of fortified defenses at key sites across the planet that would later aid the Blakist forces in resisting Clan Ghost Bear. [6] In response to resistance reports emerging from Dieron that tied the Hermits to the destruction of local life-support facilities as well as the execution of POWs, the unit was charged with multiple counts of Crimes Against Humanity and a variety of War Crimes with the MRBC adding the Hermits to their Most Wanted list. [7] Hannibal's Hermits would be ultimately destroyed during the Ghost Bear liberation of Dieron, with their destruction confirmed by 3081.[8]

The 2nd Battalion generally scouts a designated area to locate the enemy and calls in the 1st and 3rd Battalions to deliver the final punch.
In defensive engagements, 3rd Battalion acts as the anvil, to 1st Battalion's hammer. The 2nd Battalion acts as a flanking reserve.[1]

The unit gained support from the WoB, because the unit lacks sufficient technical staff to support its operations. The unit possesses sufficient DropShips for half of the command, but the only JumpShip (a Leviathan-Class) can't carry them all at once.[1]